1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a treatment instrument system, and more particularly to a treatment instrument system suitable for performing a NOTES procedure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, researches have been advanced on surgery referred to as a NOTES (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery) procedure for inserting an endoscope into an abdomen cavity and perforating a wall surface of a natural orifice organ to perform surgery of a target organ, for example, cholecystectomy, and various proposals on endoscopes and treatment instrument systems used for the NOTES procedure have been made as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-267772.
In the NOTES procedure, in a step of inserting a treatment instrument from an inside of an organ such as a digestive tract into which an endoscope is inserted, through a wall surface of the organ, treatment is performed by a process in which the wall surface of the organ is first punctured with a puncture needle and penetrated for insufflation to ensure a space on an outside of the organ, and then a treatment instrument such as a T-bar driver is inserted through the wall surface.
In this case, in insertion of the treatment instrument from the inside of the organ through the wall surface of the organ, there has been no means for checking a situation of an insertion region and an insertion direction of the treatment instrument, that is, a situation of an outside of the wall surface of the organ.
As conventional means for checking a situation of an insertion region and an insertion direction of the treatment instrument, means using a rigid endoscope or the like has possibility.
This means is such that, in insertion of a treatment instrument from an inside of an organ through a wall surface of the organ, a rigid endoscope is inserted from an outside of an abdomen cavity, an insertion region or an insertion direction in insertion of the treatment instrument from an inner wall surface is identified while a situation of an outside of a target organ is checked on an optical image of the rigid endoscope, and puncturing with the treatment instrument is performed. Such means ensures safety in insertion of the treatment instrument from the inside of the organ through the wall surface of the organ.
However, in the NOTES procedure, inserting a rigid endoscope into an abdomen cavity as means for checking a situation of an insertion region and an insertion direction of the treatment instrument as described has a problem in terms of less invasiveness.
In the NOTES procedure, surgery of an organ in an abdomen cavity such as cholecystectomy is performed using only an endoscope. As compared with conventional abdominal surgery or laparoscopic surgery, an illumination range and a field of view are limited in surgery by the NOTES procedure. Thus, for reliable treatment without damaging, for example, blood vessels around a target organ or other organs outside the target organ, the surgery by the NOTES procedure needs more skills than the conventional laparoscopic surgery.